


Stay.

by QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: And rooftops, Brooklyn Newsies - Freeform, Canon Era, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, M/M, Queer is mentioned frequently because that's the ONLY word they had for themselves, Spot Conlon is stressed about this, Useless Lesbians, accidentally causing relationships to start when you have a fling with someone, betting money on whose going to get together because its fun, but yer welcome to!, drinking underage, dumbass lesbians who love eachother but neither will confess, falling in love with your best friends and realizing it like OH S H I T, kissing in alleyways, literally stealing another guys girlfriend, mentions of Burning Hearts, not important to read burning hearts, realizing you love someone but bitterly not confessing, sexual awakenings, so don't give me shit about it, so is Davey, so much pining, this is going to be really really soft, which means canon era homophobism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-05-31 14:37:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19427995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen/pseuds/QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen
Summary: Warrior likes girls. Always has, always will, and the laws of 1899 won't stop her from kissing a girl and holding her hand. But she has one problem, none of the girls she kisses stick around for long. When she realizes she has a crush on her best friend, Spades, she bitterly avoids confronting her feelings - so sure she'll just get rejected and lose her friend, much to the frustration of Spot Conlon. Little does she know, Spades feels the same way and is as stubborn as Warrior is, much to the dismay of Davey Jacobs. What a mess.





	1. Memories

Warrior suspected she was the queerest girl in New York City. Of course, this was without adding in the opinion of the other queer girls among the long list of who was the queerest but Warrior was high on the list. If she was being considerate Spades was next to her on the list and Moon, the pretty girl from Staten Island, was somewhere higher. That lass fell in love with every girl she saw, something Warrior managed not to do. 

Still, she was like Moon in another way. The girls she kissed never seemed to stay. It wasn’t like Warrior didn’t try, she _did._ She was jealous of how other newsies held their significant others and just...be. Warrior wanted to ask them how they did it, girls laying in her bed lasted a week or two at the most. Katherine Pulitzer had been a sole exception. 

Warrior sat on top of the Brooklyn lodge house, drinking away her sorrows. To be noted, dear reader, when you feel like absolute shit, don’t steal a bottle of cheap ass gin and drink it. You’ll feel worse. Also, wait until you’re of age because this tol child is _not_ . “Why ‘he fuck am I’ even _drinkin’_?” She asked the stars before tipping the bottle against her lips again. The cheap gin burned her throat going down, almost making her regret stealing it but after another sip, she found she didn’t care. It was a nice summer night, the strike was two months behind them, everything was going back to a better normal. 

_The strike was two weeks behind them and Warrior was done selling her papes. Really she was tired on her feet, Warrior knew she should have gone to take a nap but Spot was on her heels about it again._

_“Ya like ‘er, ‘hy ‘he fuck won’t ya tell ‘er?” He nagged, walking behind her with a frown on his face._

_“I’se don’t know what the fuck yer talkin’ ‘bout,” she snapped. That was a lie, she knew what he was talking about. Warrior knew this day was going to be rough when she saw Spades flirt with a girl to sell a pape. It shouldn’t have mattered, Warrior flirted with girls all the time to sell papes but it did. And Warrior hated it._

_It was too long ago when Warrior realized how cute Spades was. How gorgeous she was with beautiful dark skin, brown eyes prettier than the shiniest penny, and hair Warrior wanted to run her fingers through, Spades was the literal walking definition of TDH - tall, dark, and handsome. After realizing just how much she liked her best friend, Warrior took the ferry and made out with the Stanten’s local lesbian, Moon._

_“Liar,” Spot hissed behind her back. “Just fuckin’ kiss ‘er or somethin’, yer bein’ fuckin’ stupid.”_

_Warrior turned and glared down at Spot. She was six inches taller than him with a death glare rivaled to his. “If yer so instant of it, ‘hy don’t ya go kiss ‘ha Manhatten boy? Ya can’t shut up ‘bout ‘im either.” she hissed. “Just kiss ‘em and let me win ‘he bet!”_

_Spot glared back at his third. “I’ don’t fuckin’ like ‘im.”_

_“Pot kettle black!” She shrieked at him then turned to march away. He didn’t follow her, stalking off somewhere with heated cheeks. She walked all over, eventually arriving in the more posher part of towns. She looked up to see a bull walking towards her, no doubt to question her or do some corrupt shit. Listen, she’s a Jewish girl in 1899 and she’s poor, there could be a lot of not good reasons he’d come to talk of her. Warrior huffed under her breath and cracked her knuckles, preparing for a fight._

_“Oh! Warrior!” Katherine Pulitzer’s voice cut through the air as she ran up to the stunning newsie. The adorable redhead was smiling at her and Warrior could feel the heat on her cheeks. “Do you want to come inside? We haven’t gotten a chance to talk since the party.”_

_They chatted during the celebration party, drank together, and just talked. It was a good gay time and Warrior would much rather go inside some rich, cute girls house then get the shit beaten out of her by a bull. “Sure,” she let Katherine grab her hand and pull her inside. She stayed silent, looking around without showing how much in awe she was. So much wealth...Warrior forced herself to look unimpressed._

_“Ethel, can you bring some tea to my room?” Katherine told a maid as she pulled them upstairs. They ducked into a nice room with a big bed but the center stage was the desk with the pristine-looking typewriter on it. Journals and ink bottles scattered next to it. They sat on the bed and started talking. The hours started blurring. Katherine taught Warrior how to drink tea like a lady, Warrior gave Katherine swear words to add to her high and mighty rich vocabulary. They joked and laughed, teased and taunted. Warrior was definitely flirting. “Can I tell you something?”_

_“Did ya murder yer dad?” Warrior deadpanned, sprawled across Katherine’s bed as unelegant as humanly possible. Like a sea-star._

_“What?! No!” Katherine stammered. Warrior shrugged. She rubbed her face then sighed. “I think...I might be queer.”_

_Warrior sat up, looking at her. “Might be? Ya either are or ya ain’t.”_

_“I’m not sure...how did you know you were queer?” Katherine asked, looking away. She was normally so confident and put together. Now she was acting shy, her cheeks red. It was adorable._

_Warrior shrugged. “I’ kissed a’ gal.” She was young too. Not even ten yet. She kissed a girl her age from Queens, liked it so much then had a ‘oh well, guess I’se queer’ moment. It went a lot better than Spot realizing it. That was a diaster she still cringed at the memory of._

_“So if I kiss a girl...will I know?”_

_Again, Warrior shrugged. “Maybe.” It wasn’t a moment after than Katherine kissed her. It was a nice kiss although they had to angle their face just right so their noses wouldn’t bump into each other. They broke apart for air and Katherine kissed her again and again and again. They didn’t notice the door open._

_“Holy shit.” Katherine shot from Warrior and they both looked at Jack in the doorway. He stared at them then ran._

_“Jack- wait!” Katherine ran after him but Warrior stayed. She sprawled herself back on the bed, a small grin on her lips. It wasn’t the last time Katherine kissed her._

Was it a bitchy thing to do? Warrior didn’t think so. She’d given Katherine her queer awakening and the whole kiss made Jack available for Davey to date. Win-win in her book. She drank from the bottle again, the wind gently pushing its fingers through her dark curls. Katherine broke up with her two weeks ago, she suspected she wasn’t exactly over it. She didn’t regret kissing Katherine that night and dating her for a month and two weeks but she knew she’d done it for a completely other reason than just attraction to the adorable redhead. 

_Katherine sat at the foot of her bunk, wringing her hands, looking anywhere but Warrior. Warrior was stretched out at the top, watching her. Something was wrong and both of them were waiting for the other to start talking. Warrior had nothing to say but Katherine did. “I think...I think we should break up,” she said finally. Warrior let go of the breath she’d been holding in._

_“‘as it me?” Warrior asked, just to get the conversation going. The quicker it went, the sooner it’d be over._

_“No! No! Of course not!” Katherine exclaimed. “I...I just fell in love with someone else.”_

_Warrior stood, making way to the door, keeping her eyes on Katherine. “Lucky gal,” she commented. She felt some bitterness but that was because Katherine had that look in her eyes. Like she knew she’d go to this girl and get with her right away, something Warrior would never do. Ah, she was jealous._

_“No hard feelings, right?” Katherine’s voice felt pained. Warrior gave her the best reassuring smile she could possibly give._

_“No hard feelins. Be happy, Kath,” then she left and the next day Katherine was dating Sarah Jacobs. Warrior got shit-faced drunk that night, that’s for sure._

Warrior hissed when she drank the last drop of the gin, by now she was definitely drunk. She was in love with her best friend and there was nothing she could do about it. Staring at the moon, she muttered to the stars, the sky, and the moon. “I’se fucked, ain’t I?”


	2. I wrote this on the 120th anniversary of Strike Day AND DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE IT.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot has to deal with two super drunk girls who are both in love with each other but too stubborn to confess. What fun.

There were several occasions Spot hated Warrior. One was when she pointed out his rather obvious not crush on Racetrack Higgins, he hated her. He disliked her severely every time Smokey and her got into a massive fight (it could possibly damage relationships with the hot-headed leader). The only time he _really really_ hated her was the one time she filled his room with snakes, turtles, and salamanders after an incredibly bad fight, he still wasn’t sure how she got everything into his room and shut the door behind her.

But right now he didn’t hate her. _Right now_ , he was annoyed more than anything. He was annoyed with both of them really. More on the second person later. “‘His betters be the right house,” Spot knocked on the door of, what he hoped, the Jacobs house. About an hour ago, a messenger from Manhatten showed up with a message from Davey Jacobs. It was only three lines. _Your second is on my roof. And drunk. Come get her._

A tired-looking Davey opened the door. Upon seeing Spot, he shut his eyes and sighed with relief. “Thank goodness, come in.” Together they went through a decent looking living room, up 2 flights of stairs, climbing out an attic window, and up the fire escape towards the roof. On the way they exchanged words cuz walking up a shit ton of stairs is boring with chatter. 

“How bad ‘s ‘he?” Spot asked, preparing himself to gauge how drunk Spades was. If it was more than four bottles, he and Warrior was in for a night. Denying her feelings or not, whenever Spades was in trouble or sick, Warrior would help. Remember, Spot doesn’t know _Warrior is also getting drunk_. He was crossing his fingers Spades hadn’t drunk that much yet. 

“She drank two bottles and is working on the third of what I can only assume is cheap tequila. I’m surprised she hasn’t thrown up yet.” Davey was amazed. He could barely drink three glasses without getting super drunk. This was because he was a good Jewish boy and didn’t drink his sorrows away. And he had parents that kept double locks on the liquor cabinet. 

“‘He won’t be doin’ ‘hat till the mornin’,” Spot grumbled as he walked out on the Jacobs roof. His dark eyes scanned the roof the best they could with the sun dipping quickly. Spades tucked herself in one of the corners, not exactly sitting on the edge of it but the bottles were stacked there. He walked over towards her. “Spades, ‘he fuck?” 

“Heeeeeeeey, Spottty,” Spades giggled, Spades only giggled when she was drunk. She tipped the bottle back against her lips before he grabbed it from her. She reached for it but he threw it away, not even wincing as the glass shattered. “What ya do ‘hat for,” she pouted. 

“Davey, help me get ‘er up.” If he had sleeves, they’d be rolled up. Together, they got Spades up on her feet and headin towards the exit without pitching herself off the roof. “‘hy ‘he even on yer roof?” he complained to Davey as Spades swayed between them. He didn’t remember how they became friends, Davey hadn’t meet her during the strike or so he thought.

“When she dated Sarah, we became friends,” Davey answered once they were inside. The relationship between Spades and Sarah was short and ended after two weeks. After it ended, Sarah started dating Katherine, in secret of course, and Spades didn’t seem bothered by it, as if she had eyes on someone else. 

“Oh, _Saz_ !” Spades poked her head up. “‘he was soooooo _preeeeetty_ and sooo _sweeet_.” she slurred, “but ya know who’se prettier?” Davey was slightly offended by this, his sister was very pretty and he’d fight you over it but Spades was super drunk so he let it slide. 

Spot sighed. “Who’se prettier ‘han Sarah, Spades?” 

“Yer supposed to guess, Spotty!” she whined, leaned heavy against him. Spot didn’t buckle under his weight, he’s a strong boy, smol but strong. 

He rolled his dark eyes. “I’se don’t fuckin’ know, who’se prettier ‘han Sarah, Spades?” 

“ _Warrior_ .” Spades sighed like a lovestruck newlywed. “War’s sooo much prettier with ‘er dark curls and ‘hose hips and ‘er freckles.” She continued to drunkenly ramble about all the features of Warrior she found cute or sexy. Oh, did I forget to mention Spades likes Warrior back? Yeah, _she’s_ the second person Spot is frustrated at. 

“Ya mind carryin’ ‘er back to Brooklyn with me?” Spot asked once they hit the streets.

Davey nodded. “Sure,” and they dealt with her drunken, gay rambling all the way to Brooklyn. There was a brief slip up on the bridge where they all nearly fell over the rail but they didn’t. Davey helped Spot up in the lodge house and dumped her safely on her bed. Davey sighed and rolled his shoulders. “I’ll be headin’ back then.” 

“Grab one of ‘hem boys to walk yaself back. Thanks again, Jacobs.” Davey waved and left, heading home with an escort from Brooklyn to make sure he didn’t get jumped. By now the stars were fully out and the moon was shining. “Hey, Spades, ya feelin’ fine?” 

“Mhm,” she hummed, her face fully in her pillow. 

“Spades, ya need ta confess.” he urged, hoping the alcohol in Spades system might give her the kick in the ass to get over her stupid stubbornness to confess to an equally stubborn newsie. 

“Fuck ya, Spotty, ‘he don’t like me like ‘hat.” This was the point where Spot started screaming internally and left the room. He went looking for Warrior, seeing if maybe she could confess to a drunk Spades or something, only to find _she_ was drunk and crying about Spades on her bed. 

“Jezus, ya too?! ‘He fuck is it!? National drunken lesbian day?!” Yes, the author knows the word _lesbian_ wasn’t really popular until the 20th century but guess what!? Google says it existed in the late 19th century AKA when this fic is set in, and that’s good enough for me! 

“SpottywhyisSpadessofuckin’pretty?” Warrior spoke in quickness, all her words slurred together. 

“I’se don’t fuckin’ know, War, ya need to confess.” He tried again with this drunk lesbian.

Warrior uncovered her face from the arm draped over it, tears still slipping down from her puffy dark eyes. “‘He don’t like me like ‘hat, Spotty,” she hiccuped out a sob. 

Spot rolled his eyes. “I’se really think ya should just say it and see ‘hat she has to say,” he continued to persist, trying to get one of them to confess. Warrior shook her head and he stalked out. “I’se need a fuckin’ drink!” he yelled, throwing hands up in the air. 

The next morning, the Brooklyn newsies got up before the circulation bell and drank their coffee. Yawning and showing all her pretty teeth, Warrior stretches her arms into the sky. Her head was pounding and she was definitely hungover but coffee did help. Someone approached her from behind and slung their arm over her shoulder. “Mornin’, War,” Spades yawned in her ear. 

“Mornin’, Spades,” She was used to this and Warrior was a master of not blushing and turning into a gooey mess around Spades by now. “Hey, I’se heard ‘hat Stitches and Viper over at Staten got together,” 

Spades groaned and slipped off of Warrior’s shoulder to sulk. “Fuck no.” 

Warrior grinned. “Pay up,” 

“I’se hate ya.” 

“Ya fuckin’ love me, give me mah fuckin’ money,” Warrior said easily and Spades gave no objection and paid her the money. Warrior and Spades ran a long betting system on relationships. They bet on who were in love, how long it would take, and if it was rocky, how long it might last. At times it got very competitive, wherein the middle of the night Warrior screamed at the top of her lungs for Spades to “GIVE ME MAH FUCKIN’ MONEY, BITCH!” with Spades screaming back “FUCK YOU”. The only relationship they never bet on was their own, even though everyone else was. 

“Yer lucky ya got nice tits, War!” Spades went to get her morning coffee and Warrior gave her the bird as she stored away her money. This the part where the camera zooms in on Spot Conlon in the corner, beyond down with both of their shit and with a face that looked just like >:(.

“Sooooo….guessin’ they’se didn’t confess last night?” Hot Shot muttered to him. 

“I’se don’t get paid enough for this shit, Hot Shot.” 

“I will if Spades confesses first. Who did ya bet on again?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he grumbled, “They’se both too fuckin’ stupid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you get writers' block but you’re determined as fuck? Also had to reread the first chapter because my brain was like Hm? What? -.-  
> ALSO, TODAY IS THE DAY OF THE NEWSIES STRIKE AND WTF I DIDN’T HEAR A THING, I JUST GOOGLED IT FOR ACCURACY.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Warrior. She's one of my fav OCs because she's amazing and super queer, like me. Also, I ship her with StariNight's oc, Spades. OTP right there folks, they're perfect for each other and yet we never specified how they got together. Well, it was bugging me today, a day after I graduated High School *YAY* and soooo I wrote this first chapter. Wow, it's a first chapter. Shit.


End file.
